Fair Work changes an attack on all workers

Lisbeth Latham

Attorney-General Christian Porter has made it easier for employers to take advantage of the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 and protect profits at the expense of workers’ rights and conditions.

On April 18, Porter announced the federal government had approved new regulations to the Fair Work Act which allow employers to reduce the time period they are mandated to provide before changing enterprise agreements.

Enterprise agreements (EA) are statutory agreements, enforceable under law, designed to ensure that employers cannot worsen conditions for workers.

However, the Fair Work Act makes it possible to vary an agreement and change its provisions prior to it expiring and being renegotiated.

There are legitimate reasons to vary an agreement which can be in the interests of workers.

However, shortening the access period around a variation will make it easier for employers to drive through adverse changes which strip conditions.

A major problem is that, under the Fair Work Act, employers can try and force through agreements and variations and put the agreement to workers in spite of the union’s objections.

Vote “no” campaigns are extremely difficult to organise and run in large workplaces, even in the best of circumstances with a seven day notice period in a bargaining campaign.

If an employer is able to advocate a variation with just one day’s notice, it will be extremely difficult for a union to win a “no” vote.

It will be made even more difficult as companies use the threat of stand-downs without enforced leave – possible under the Fair Work Act – over workers’ heads.

The Labor opposition and the Australian Greens will seek to reverse the government’s changes to the regulation. To be successful, however, the motion will require an absolute majority of 50%+1 in the Senate, meaning they will have to gain the Centre Alliance and One Nation support. The earliest the motion can be put is May. In the meantime, the changes are in effect.

There is always a need for workers to be able to discuss the circumstances and contents of any enterprise agreement variations. Companies that cannot pay workers fair wages and provide decent conditions should not be in business.

In the context of the COVID-19 generated mass unemployment, having a job is a primary concern for many people. The challenge is to chart a path between workers being adequately paid and companies collapsing.

While the best way would be via a larger universal wage subsidy from the government. In its absence, however, agreement variations may be necessary.

However, they must occur within a framework which protects the rights of workers during and after the coronavirus crisis, including that:

• Workers and their unions have absolute veto over any variation; 
• No discussion of variations be undertaken without workers and their unions scrutinising the company’s books; 
• Any variation be predicated on senior management having its pay reduced by 40%, or capped at five times the full-time ordinary pay of the lowest paid employee (whichever is lower); 
• A ban on all executive bonuses and share dividends for three years after the end of any variation; 
• A guarantee preventing stand-downs without pay, or job cuts; 
• Any profits to be distributed to workers to cover any reduction in conditions as a consequence of the variation; 
• Any variation to have a sunset clause, and; 
• If the variation has not expired prior to negotiations for a new agreement beginning, the starting point for new negotiations be the original unvaried agreement.

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[Originally published in Green Left Weekly #1262]


This article is posted under copyleft, verbatim copying and distribution of the entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. If you reprint this article please email me at revitalisinglabour@gmail.com to let me know.

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Morrison’s COVID-19 response puts profits ahead of people

Lisbeth Latham

Federal parliament passed the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Bill 2020 on April 8, which provided the enabling legislation for a range of stimulus measures the government has already announced, including the JobSeeker allowance.

While the creation of the JobSeeker allowance is significant, and has been welcomed by Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus as a “victory”, the package has a number of significant weaknesses.

Essentially, it outlines that the bulk of the economic crisis will be passed on to working people, particularly more marginalised workers.

The JobSeeker payment will provide qualifying employers with $1500 a fortnight per qualifying employee for six months.

There are qualifying thresholds for employers: those with less than $1 billion in turnover must also have lost more than 30% of their revenue; those with more than $1 billion in turnover must have lost more than 50%; and charities must have lost more than 15%.

When it became clear that there was to be a special category for charities, TAFEs and universities had hoped to be included under charitable organisations. But the government has since made it clear that the payment would only go to organisations providing direct charitable support.

For a worker to qualify, they must be either a permanent or fixed-term employee, and employed prior to March 1. A qualifying casual employee must also have been working for their employer for more than 12 months.

The $1500 JobSeeker payment essentially establishes a new income floor for qualifying employees, paid for by the government.

For around 30% of workers the subsidy reflects either an improvement on, or a maintenance of, their current incomes.

But for the majority of workers, it represents a wage cut and, for many, a significant one.

As the new act amends the Fair Work Act to make it easier for affected employers to change workers’ hours, direct them to take leave, relocate them and make changes to the work they do, any reduction in hours will result in a corresponding reduction in pay for workers, down to a minimum of $1500.

The subsidy is not the starting pay. Rather, a worker will need to work towards and surpass the equivalent number of hours if they are to receive close to their normal pay, as employers are only required to pay a qualifying worker whichever is greater of the $1500, or whatever the worker earns in a fortnight.

For companies still employing people in work, the subsidy is more a subsidy to their profits rather than a wages subsidy, with workers in effect providing $1500 unpaid labour each to the employer.

The failure of the government’s stimulus package to sufficiently protect workers’ incomes was highlighted by an ABC report on April 9 which stated that 617, 000 people have told the Australian Tax Office (up from 360,000 on April 3) that they will be seeking to draw on their superannuation accounts this financial year (after April 20).

If each of these draws the full $10,000 eligible, that will amount to $6 billion. This will not only undermine the future retirement of those workers, but it will impact all working people.

However, as inadequate as the package is, a far greater problem are the hundreds of thousands of workers who do not qualify for any subsidy right now.

These include more than 1 million casuals, workers on visas and workers employed in firms which have not met the revenue loss threshold, but are dismissing or standing down workers nonetheless.

The ACTU had been lobbying for a broader qualifying definition for casual workers, based on a reasonable expectation of further work, which is part of the test for casual employees qualifying for unfair dismissal protections.

Attorney General Christian Porter rejected the ACTU on the basis that it was “too broad”. He justified the government’s decision not to include more casuals on the basis that “casuals move between multiple employers”.

Porter would know that many casual workers rely on a single employer. It also ignores the reality that, while some new work being created, that is dwarfed by the numbers losing work.

The government’s refusal to include all visa holders in its wage subsidy protections, combined with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s April 3 statement that struggling international students should “go home if they can’t support themselves”, is consistent with successive governments’ view that international students and other visa-holding workers are sources of income and cheap labour which can be disposed of at whim.

Leaving Australia is not a viable option; the government's callousness will simply force these workers into extremely insecure and exploitative situations.

The United Workers Union has launched an important campaign for no worker to be left behind, irrespective of visa status, with an amnesty for undocumented workers. It should be supported. We also need to demand that workers be given permanent residency and citizenship, should they request that.

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[Originally published in Green Left Weekly #1260]
This article is posted under copyleft, verbatim copying and distribution of the entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. If you reprint this article please email me at revitalisinglabour@gmail.com to let me know.

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Presentation at Covid-19: Capitalism puts profits over health forum

My talk at the Socialist Alliance forum "Covid-19: Capitalism puts profits over health" on March 31. Thanks for the invitation to speak, I hope my talk was useful.

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Morrison’s COVID-19 wage subsidy fails workers

Lisbeth Latham

The federal government announced on March 30 that a wage subsidy package would go to parliament aimed at encouraging companies contemplating job cuts and stand-downs to retain and pay workers for the duration of the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Coalition had explicitly ruled out wage subsidy packages. But its turn-around has come after pressure from unions and employer groups. While the decision has been widely welcomed, the package is inadequate to meet the looming crisis. It has also come too late to help tens of thousands of workers already stood down.

The bailout is a wage subsidy to employers considering laying off workers. It has been set at $1500 a fortnight — 70% of the median wage — irrespective of how much was earned or how many hours worked.

The payments will be available for a maximum of six months: they begin on May 1 and will be backdated to March 30. They will cover workers dismissed between March 1 and March 31 at qualifying companies.

The subsidy will apply to all workers, including casuals, provided that the casual employee has been employed for at least 12 months.

However, the criteria for casual workers to qualify is still unclear, particularly if they have had breaks between jobs over the previous 12 months.

To qualify, a business with a turnover of less than $1 billion will have to have experienced a drop in revenue of 30% or more. Businesses with a turnover of more than $1 billion will have had to experience a reduction of more than 50%. Sole traders are included in the scheme.

While this wage package provides thousands of workers with some comfort, like the previous stimulus package it is inadequate.

First, payments to businesses begin far too late, which means that companies, particularly those with cash-flow problems, will sack or stand-down workers prior to May 1. This is why it should be brought forward.

Secondly, the wage guarantee amount is inadequate: it will leave thousands of working people facing financial oblivion.

Thirdly, all casual workers, irrespective of how long they have been working for a particular employer, should be eligible. It has been estimated that 1 million casual workers will not qualify. The fact someone is employed casually does not reduce their needs: indeed, their precariousness means they have less resources to survive this crisis.

Fourthly, the loss threshold for companies to qualify for the wage subsidy is too high. We do not know how long the pandemic will last. While some companies will qualify now, many will not and they will still be trying to survive with reduced revenues, meaning that thousands more will face stand downs and job cuts.

Responding to the new package, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has renewed its call for a wage subsidy for all workers, regardless of their contractual or employment relationship, citizenship, residency or visa status.

The ACTU argues the payment should be lifted to $1375 a week and modeled on the schemes introduced in Britain (80% of a worker’s wage) and Denmark (75% of a worker’s wage). (The Danish scheme is aimed at putting the economy, outside of essential services, into mothballs to slow the virus spread.)

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said: “The union movement has worked doggedly to make sure this government understands the grave situation Australian workers find themselves in. Less than three weeks ago, the Morrison government wouldn’t consider the notion of a wage subsidy.

“We now need employers to keep people employed and keep paying their wages. We are calling on all employers to do their part.

“We also want to see workers who have been let go re-employed.

“A wage subsidy program needs to have safeguards to ensure people are kept in employment and that any taxpayer money flows to the workers. The government has made clear that this is a wage subsidy and not a wage replacement program, and we would expect to see people maintain their wage levels during this program.”

This will be difficult. With so many companies standing workers down, the ability to mount workplace pressure is extremely limited. Where it is possible, however, pressure will be needed on management to maintain wages and employment.

Equally important is the need to maintain pressure on the federal government to boost wage subsidies and ban sackings.

It may feel impossible to shift the government further. But, given that in just three weeks it has moved from offering cash to small- and medium-sized businesses to a $137 billion wage subsidy for millions of workers, we can see that it is susceptible to pressure.

We can protect the livelihoods of working people and, post pandemic, look to transform society to put people before profits.

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[This article originally appeared in Green Left Weekly #1259].

This article is posted under copyleft, verbatim copying and distribution of the entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. If you reprint this article please email me at revitalisinglabour@gmail.com to let me know.

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